Can't Change The Past
by M.L. Shards
Summary: Adam arrives home from the team up with a bruised hand, a robot companion, and a full answering machine. Slight AdamTanya


I'm not sure what this is. I just started writing and this came out, so I hope you enjoy and please review.

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"_You're lucky."__ Rose had sighed taking a look at the Black Ranger's fingers that weren't covered up by the bandage Mr. Hartford and her had applied. They were an ugly purple colour. "If it wasn't for the Defender Vest's power boost, you probably would've shattered every bone in your hand." _

Adam winced as he opened the door to his apartment. He was having a hard time getting used to the fact that he wouldn't be comfortable using his right hand for the next few weeks. He let out a sigh as he threw his keys onto the kitchen counter and waited for his companion to follow him in.

Slowly Alpha marched into the apartment and Adam closed the door behind him making a point to use his left hand, perhaps blocking Thrax by punching into his attack wasn't the best idea he'd ever had…

He glanced around the apartment as he flicked on the lights. He frowned as he wandered over to where his answering machine was and realized much to his dismay; he'd somehow gotten thirty-eight messages on his machine. That didn't even make sense; he'd only been gone a few days…

Pressing the button for the messages to play, he found out the first two were from charities trying to get him to donate money. Skipping over those he turned and headed to the kitchen, searching through his fridge for something to eat that didn't require a lot of cooking.

Alpha wandered over to where the television was and began curiously examining the remote control as Rocky's voice filled the room.

"_Adam, man, look, I know I agreed to take over your classes at the dojo and stuff, but you've got to give me something more to work with. You just sort of took off and gave me no idea__ when you'd be back or why you were leaving… so call me when you get back man. The others are planning some sort of reunion thing and they're trying to get a hold of you, so expect a lot of messages."_

The message ended as Adam pulled out a milk carton. He checked the expiry date and seeing that it was still good, poured himself a glass as the machine went to the next message.

"_Hey Adam, it's Kimberly, I'm planning a bit of a reunion for all the originals. I've called about four times but Rocky says you're out of town so when you get this message if you could give me a call on my cell, area code 305- 555- 9741. Hope to talk to you soon__, oh, and if you have Tommy's number that would be great, I lost contact with him years ago."_

Putting the milk back and opting to make himself a sandwich while Alpha figured out how to turn on the television the machine went through four similar messages from Jason, Trini, Tanya, and Zack. He got a brief on from Kat just asking him to call her back when he got the chance.

"Oh! Look, Adam! Robots!" Alpha said excitedly pointing at the television screen. It took Adam a few moments to realize Alpha had turned the television to the Sci-Fi channel and was watching as rerun of the re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica._

Adam chuckled as the robot sat down on the couch and proceeded to watch the show with great interest. He'd had a heck of a time getting Alpha into the building and up to the third floor without being seen. He had a problem since one of the tenants in room 205 (a ditzy brunette taking classes at Angel Grove University who lived with her Uncle in the apartment) had taken a great interest in the former Black Ranger and constantly "accidentally" bumped into him.

He'd made up some sort of excuse about him being a toy, which sounded lame on reflection, but was the only thing he could think of at the time. Luckily the girl hadn't pressed and had gone back to her room, disappointed that once again her flirtation attempts had been unsuccessful.

"_Hey Adam, it's Justin. I'm coming into town sometime next month once my finals are done. I know you and Rocky still live in Angel Grove, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out or something. You can call me on my cell phone, 555-8706.__ I'll try back next week or something."_

Adam pulled the mustard out of the fridge with his right hand, finding the cool container soothing on his hand. He set it on the counter and began rummaging through cold cuts. As the machine played on through a few more messages, two from Carlos, one from Ashley (which was odd because he never really spoke with her), and person asking for someone named Ryan that Adam assumed to be a wrong number.

"_Adam, hey, I just saw something on__ the news."_ Zack's voice floated out of the answering machine as Adam struggled to get the bag of bread open without using his right hand too much. _"It looked like my alter ego… and since I'm pretty sure I'd know if it was me, I figure it must be you. You all right, man? How'd you get reactivated? Call me back, you know the number." _

Adam groaned. Damn Operation Overdrive and their celebrity status, of course them being deactivated was going to make the news all over North America. Anyone stepping in to help would also be in the media spotlight. He'd never thought of it. The original rangers were such a new idea at the time, few people outside of Angel Grove believed the stories of the Power Rangers. They'd made the local news numerous times, but never anything bigger.

If he'd been on the news in uniform that would easily explain the vast amount of phone calls.

Sure enough, after that, every message was from a former asking if it had been him they'd seen on the news.

"_Uh, I just saw the news and talked to Zack so I figure it must've been you. Are you and the others okay? I've left messages with Tori and Kira as well, but they haven't gotten back to me. Call me when you get in. Oh… it's Tommy by the way…"_

Adam laughed, "Obviously, who else would know Kira and Tori?" he questioned the machine as he finally managed to piece together a sandwich while Alpha let out a robotic sigh.

"Number Six is such a pretty robot. I wish I could look human like she looks human."

"Sorry buddy, she's an actress, a human one at that." Adam replied putting his supplies away before shutting off the answering machine. He'd listen to the rest tomorrow. He took his sandwich over to where Alpha was then realized he had no clue how to take care of a robot. "Uh… what do you do to… recharge?"

"Well I used to use the Power Chamber to recharge, but I'm sure I can find something around here with a similar function that I can modify, until then you can shut me off when you go to bed." Alpha replied happily stretching his legs out in front of him. "It feels so good be back."

Adam smiled as he remembered the rush of morphing again. "Yeah, it does."

"Are you going to call any of them?" Alpha asked curiously as he muted a commercial for new flavour of Pepsi.

Adam nodded as he bit into his sandwich. "Yeah, I'll call Trini, the longer I delay that the more upset she's going to be. She, unlike Tanya and Kim has no reservations on the phone when she's upset, and I have to talk to Rocky." He held his good hand to his forehead. "God, I'm tired."

"I'll call them!" Alpha chirped excitedly, springing off the couch and waddling over to where the phone was. "I haven't talked to them in ages!"

"Alpha, you've never talked to either of them, ever." Adam sighed in response. "Both of them left before we became the Turbo Rangers."

Alpha put the phone down as if this thought had just occurred (if you believe robots can have thoughts). "Oh… can I call Tommy then? I missed you guys so much and the Galaxy Rangers were so nice in shipping me home to Earth, even if it was in pieces and they changed my voice program, can you believe it?"

"Tomorrow, Alpha," Adam said smiling at the robot "you can call them tomorrow. Hey, can you hand me the phone? I'm going to give Trini a call."

The robot nodded and brought the phone over as the commercials ended and the show resumed.

Putting down his half eaten sandwich, Adam dialed the former Yellow Ranger's number and waited for her to pick up. He silently prayed she didn't have call display.

"_ADAM PARK! What the hell?"_

Adam winced and held the phone away from his ear. She definitely had call display…

"Hey Trini," Adam sighed bringing the phone back to his ear, "I just got your message-"

"_You're not a teenager anymore! Are you all right? Are you injured?"_

Adam let out a groaned, "I bashed my hand up, but otherwise I'm fine."

"_Seriously! I just heard Tommy was a Dino Ranger too! What is it with Black Rangers? Gah!"_

Adam rolled his eyes, "Trini, really, I'm fine. I don't plan on doing this full time."

"_How'd you even get your powers back?"_

"Long and very strange story involving some strange coincidences… did you know Rita and Zedd had a kid?"

"_What?"_

"I know, that was my reaction… Alpha! Put down the coffee maker!"

The robot had wandered into the kitchen and had begun looking curiously at all of the appliances. A special interest had been taken in the coffee maker that Alpha was attempting to disassemble.

"_Alpha? Adam… just what have you been up to?" _

"Trust me, I was in my office one minute, next thing I knew I was at Stonehenge morphed with four other rangers I'd never met before. Apparently we were chosen as Overdrive's replacements, so I did that for a few days before we got Alpha into fix the morphing grid. It's been a strange week… even for me."

"_Well __I am still going to kick your ass next time I see you! You're lucky I thought you were Zack and gave him an hour long lecture before he explained it hadn't been him… Adam! You're supposed to be the smart one… after Billy and me… and maybe this Justin kid I've heard about."_

"As modest as ever…" Adam joked shifting slightly then hissing in pain as he hit his bad hand on the end table.

"_S__erves you right for worrying us so much! Tanya's been calling me every few hours asking if I've heard anything! She's got me on edge."_

Adam rolled his eyes. That logic didn't even make sense, she wanted him unhurt, and then wanted him hurt… "Trini, I really didn't have much choice in the matter. Anyways, these new guys have a long way to go, I'm not sure they fully understand what's resting on their shoulders here."

He heard a reluctant sigh on the other end of the line.

"_I guess you're right… so what was it like? Morphing again? I mean it's been so long for me… Gah! I hate not being able to do anything! I don't even understand why I went to that Peace Conference…"_

"I thought you loved the Peace Conference…"

"_Yeah, but we never got things done as effectively as we did when we were rangers. When you're a ranger you see the immediate effect of your actions, there wasn't any at the conference… god, I'm rambling, sorry. I'm__ just so relieved you're okay."_

"Trini, I've got to call a bunch of people so-"

"_Right, I'll finish yelling later."_

He rolled his eyes, "Thanks."

He heard her hang up. He started to dial Rocky's number when there was a knock on the door.

He shrugged and put the phone down, heading over to the door and gesturing for Alpha to find a place to hide. With a lack of imagination, Alpha bolted into the washroom. Opening the door Adam was startled to see Tanya, outside the door, glaring at him angrily.

"Adam!"

"Uh… Tanya, what are you-"

"Tanya?" came a third voice from inside the washroom. Adam winced as Alpha pushed the door open and ran over to Tanya, giving her a big robot hug. "Tanya! I missed you!"

Settling down slightly Tanya awkwardly patted the robot on the back before nudging him to the side.

"Adam, what's going on?" she sighed sadly, "You haven't been returning anyone's calls."

"I returned Trini's…" Adam protested, wincing as he leaned his bad hand against the doorframe.

"Adam! What did you do?"

"I hurt my hand. I'll be fine, it's just really bad bruising." He sighed as Tanya wrapped her arms around his shoulders in relief. Startled, Adam moved his bad hand out of the way, and tried to hug her back with one hand.

"Never do that again!" She mumbled into his shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you."

Letting out a sigh he kissed the top of her head. "I'm fine, really."

"You're too old for this!"

"I can still pull it off." Adam protested as Tanya looked up at him and swatted him on the shoulder in a gesture of good humour, but she couldn't hide the tears leaking out from her eyes. "Tanya, I'm sorry. It was kind of a sudden thing, trust me, I have about twenty phone calls to return because of it and I think all of them are going to be yelling at me…"

Tanya sniffed as she leaned against her boyfriend's shoulder. "Why did you call me? I have active powers still, I could've helped."

"Wasn't my call." Adam sighed rubbed circles on Tanya's back with his good hand. "Come on, I wouldn't do something like this to worry you on purpose. I had a lot to do in a very short amount of time; these guys have more pyrotechnics than the Machine Empire ever did… come on, I'll take you breakfast tomorrow okay?"

Tanya nodded weakly, looking up and brushing her lips to Adam's.

"Oh!" Alpha squealed. "Can I come?"

Adam broke away from Tanya and rolled his eyes. He'd forgotten about the robot, it was going to take some getting used to. "You don't eat."

The robot began to protest, then lowered its' head and wandered back to the television where the credits for _Galactica _were rolling. Letting out a sigh and giving his girlfriend an extra peck on the forehead he started to realize just how different things were going to be now.

There was going to be a reunion if Kim had anything to say about it, him and Tanya were together, he was back to being the Black Ranger and he had a fully sentient automaton living in his house with him.When he seriously thought about it he couldn't tell if he was going back in time or not…

"Well, tomorrow is going to be interesting." Adam sighed as Tanya took a seat beside the robot who was happily flicking through more channels while he attempted to explain his ordeal to Tanya at the same time. He winced as he heard a loud crunch when Alpha disassembled the television remote.

What had he gotten himself into?


End file.
